Just Dance
by allee-she-sha
Summary: Alright, I've added some chapter breaks so it's not so freakishly long. Hopefully this will make it better. Plot's still the same. Enjoy :
1. Chapter 1

Just Dance

Oh man, what a stressful day! A note to all you poor overworked PAs out there, never, I repeat, NEVER let your boss build a metal suit to fly around in. It will only cause you stress and worry among a long list of personal grievances. Today my dear boss, Tony Stark, decided that it would be a good idea to test out his improved repulsor ray on the recently restored Shelby. I was rather upset, it was one of my favorites after all. He apologized of course but then went right back to tinkering. Men and their toys. I sighed and went to my car to head home. My elbow brushed against something on the dash as I strapped in. As I got on the freeway, my favorite song came on the radio. I hummed along and when it got to the chorus I belted a few lines. I heard a soft chuckle from no where. I looked around a few times but shook it off as the wind being extra loud. I continued my singing. Now I'm not a very good singer but I try, right? When the song ended I turned the radio down again. Suddenly Tony's voice rang out from somewhere.

I nearly drove off the road.

"I didn't know you even liked Kelly Clarkson, Ms. Potts." Oh my God. I mist have hit the speed dial on the dash with my elbow. I was almost banging my head against the steering wheel.

"You weren't supposed to hear that. Good bye, Tony." I jammed my finger into the button to the sound of Tony roaring in laughter…

After a well deserved hot shower and some leftover Chinese, I plunked on the couch and flipped on the tv. Oh goody, Big Bang Theory was one of my favorites. Oh... damn, I'd seen this one a billion times. Ah well, I settled in for the half hour of nerdy comedy that so reminded me of the guys down in R & D.

Somewhere between The Wheel of Fortune and Two and a Half Men the phone rang. I always get nervous when the phone goes off around here. I'm always expecting Tony to have called saying he needed bail money or worse, Rhodey calling to tell me Tony had been injured and needed help. Or, considering what happened in the car hours before, To y calling to get an encore performance. Luckily it was none of the above, just my sister who had recently moved from our former home in Kansas to Malibu. We chatted for a while about how she was liking Malibu and her young daughter, my niece, Julia. Julia was five years old and absolutely adorable. She loved animals and anything the color pink. She was everything I would have wanted my daughter to be if I had the time to... well, you know...

Anyway.

After a few minutes of chatter my sister sheepishly told me the reason she called. She was going to a huge marketing convention and had no one to watch Julia on Saturday because her husband was also out of town. Out of the country really, as he was in the Marines. I happily agreed to take Julia, she could hang at my place for the day and we could go to the park, whatever she liked. My sister thanked me heartily and before she hung up said,

"Just a warning... she insists on bringing that new game of hers with her, I think it's called Just Dance or something like that."

After I hung up, I was a bit confused. What the hell was Just Dance? A quick Internet search informed me that it was a popular game for the Wii. You watched a figure on the screen and copied it's movements. Points were awarded on how well you copied the dance. The website said it was best played with two people and kids under ten were advised to play with an adult because some of the slightly suggestive moves. Oh boy...

When Saturday rolled around I was excited to see Julia but not particularly enthralled with this video game. Sure enough as soon as she was in the door of my apartment she pulled out the cursed game. She smiled hugely showing off her dimples. She then pulled out a second game case.

"Look Aunt Virginia, I even have Just Dance 2!"

Yay.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, I'll admit. It's not that bad. It's fair exercise and some of the characters look super ridiculous in their dancing outfits. I could sing along to most of the songs and Julia really seemed to be enjoying herself. I tried my best to steer her away from songs like Womanizer and Ring My Bell. Going on just the titles, I didn't want to think of what the dances could be like. While we were resting and getting a snack the phone rang. This time it really was Tony. At first I was a bit panicky but he assured me he was fine. He just needed my help with some paperwork at his house. I told him I had my niece for the day and asked if it was an emergency. He said no but was not easily deterred.

"Please? I can't do all this by myself, you know I HATE paperwork. Would you really leave me here all by myself?"

"Yes. Tony you're a big boy, you can do paperwork all by yourself."

"But what if I get a paper-cut and bleed to death? You'll never forgive yourself if I do. Besides you can bring your niece with you. I've met your sister, she knows me."

"Tony, first off, you're not a hemophiliac. And second, I'm a bit busy right now. I've been worn out with Julia's copy of Just Dance here."

"Kinky, Potts." I blushed even though he was a mile away.

"Don't be crass Tony, it's a video game on the Wii."

"Well make sure you bring that too. I have a Wii but not much else to entertain five year old girls. Now, girls of YOU'RE age-"

I sighed and hung up. It was clear, I was not going to win. Grudgingly I packed up Julia and her video games. After she was strapped into her car-seat we set off towards the big mansion on the cliff.

When Julia and I walked into the house, Jarvis immediately scanned Julia. I'm sure this was a tad shocking. Not many houses run a full body scan that can tell everything about you when you walk in the door. Given her age, Jarvis seemed to deem her as not a threat and allowed her in with a word of welcome. Julia was still staring at the ceiling in wonder when Tony strutted up the stairs. He grinned at me and sank down to Julia's level.

"Hi there, I'm Tony. What's your name?"

"Julia." She replied shyly.

"Hi Julia, I heard you brought a game with you." Julia grinned. She held up her box with glee. He continued,

"Maybe when we're done your aunt will let us all play a round or two. Is that alright?"

She nodded happily. He grinned at her and stood up. I smiled at this little display. Tony, for all his lack of class with adults, really did relate well to children. I sent Julia to the living room with a coloring book I had brought with me to occupy her and followed Tony to the rarely used dining room where his papers were strewn untidily around. I sighed and sat down, pulling the nearest stack towards me. Tony sat beside me and took another stack. After a while I noticed that while I was diligently highlighting and signing he had taken to doodling on a spare piece of paper. Abruptly he stopped and asked,

"So, how old is she?"

"Julia? She's five. She'll be six on October 9th."

"She's cute."

"Yeah she is. She looks a lot like my sister."

"She looks a bit like you too, Y'know." I looked up cautiously.

"You think so?" I asked rather shakily and he grinned at me.

"Yeah, she has your eyes. That really pretty blue color." He reached over and brushed my bangs out of my face. I froze and his hand was still on my cheek. His eyes darkened and he stared into my eyes. I was staring right back...

"Aunt Virginia? Mr. Tony?"

We both jumped a bit when Julia came looking for us.

"In here sweetie." I called to her. She bounced in the room.

"Are you guys done yet? Mr. Tony said we could play when you were done." She had the puppy eyes working, pleading with me. I glanced over at Tony, no help there. He had the same look copied onto his face. I sighed in exasperation but got up and took Julia's hand. Tony popped out of his chair and followed. We went to the living room where Tony kept the Wii. I set up the game for her and handed her a remote. I turned and quasi- glared at _Mr_. Tony.

"Alright Tony, you wanted to play so badly, YOU have to play with her." This didn't faze him, he hopped off the couch and took the proffered remote.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alrighty Julia, you'll have to show me how to play." Julia showed him where to stand and and how to follow the dancer on screen. After he was educated Julia chose one of her favorite songs.

That's The Way I Like It by K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Tony looked over his shoulder at me as if to say, 'This song? You must be joking!' I smirked at him and motioned with my hand to turn around and play the damn game.

When the game started I realized two things. One, Tony looked absolutely ridiculous shaking his hips to one of the most disco-y disco songs out there. Two, he was getting his ass whupped at said disco song by a five year old girl. I was in silent hysterics behind the two and Tony was switching between laughing and and tripping over his feet. Julia beat him, of course. Tony was out of breath by the end of it and was congratulating the little girl on her victory. I applauded politely and made to pack up. Both Tony and Julia protested.

"Awww... Aunt Virginia, can't we stay a bit longer? I wanna play again!"

"Yeah Pepper, can't we play again? You can play too!" Whiners, the both of them.

"I don't know..." I'll admit, I half wanted to see Julia beat Tony again but we really should be going.

"Oh c'mon Pep, I have a third controller. Please?" Tony looked at me with his puppy dog face again, as if this would make me change my mind. As if! Nope. No way. Okay, he should stop now, he really WAS adorable when he looked at me like that...

I sighed in defeat and nodded. Julia hopped with glee and Tony quickly found the third remote. He handed it to me with a saucy grin. Because Julia was still player one, she chose the next song.

For an hour we went like this, in complete hysterics at the ridiculous moves and Tony even fell down once because he stepped on a shoelace. My sides hurt from laughing so much. I had just beat Tony spectacularly at "Jerk it Out" and was trying to teach him the proper way to do the move with the suspenders. He was failing just as spectacularly. Julia, amidst all the commotion, had somehow managed to fall asleep on the couch. I smiled gently and went to pick her up off the couch. Tony stood, hands in pockets and said rather shyly,

"You guys should stay for dinner. We could order a pizza and watch a movie or something."

"Oh we shouldn't intrude. We can have dinner at my place."

"Please Pep? I'd be all by myself again and I had a lot of fun." Ugh, he would try to guilt me into something like this.

"Alright, we should probably wait to order pizza when she wakes up though." I sat on the other couch in the room and Tony sat next to me. His sudden weight on the couch next to me made my body shift sideways into his but I didn't try to move. I really was exhausted, that game was a workout.

"You know, Julia brought Just Dance 2 with her as well."

"God, there's another one?" He asked in half amusement and half exasperation. His arm snaked around me and settled on the back of the couch so he TECHNICALLY didn't have his arm around me.

"Mhm. I haven't gone through and ascertained whether or not the dances were appropriate for her yet though." He chuckled. I felt it rumble though his chest. Unconsciously, I snuggled a bit closer.

"I saw they had Womanizer on this one. What's the dance like for that?"

"I shudder to imagine." We both laughed. A few minutes passed before either of us spoke. We both were enjoying the peace and I pretended not to be enjoying the closeness TOO much. He seemed to hesitate before saying,

"Wanna try out the second one?"

"God, so much!" We leaped off the couch.

A few weeks later Valentine's Day came around and my office at Stark Industries was covered in pink and red hearts, courtesy of Mr. Iron Man himself. On my desk I found a single red rose and a wrapped package. The tag read,

"For Miss Potts, in the hopes that she will be my valentine."

I smiled and pulled off the paper. Inside was…

a copy of Just Dance 2.

Bugger.


End file.
